Thursday, September 27, 2007

Paper Cuts - Books - New York Times Blog: "Ira Glass’s “This American Life,” heard on public radio, is a show that can start bar fights – wine bar fights, anyway. Admirers talk about how, blinded by show’s minor-chord epiphanies, they’ve pulled over to the side of the road to listen to a story’s conclusion. Detractors think “This American Life” is the most pretentious and self-absorbed mewling they’ve ever heard. I tend toward the latter view; there have been times when I’d have gladly totaled my car just to make “This American Life” go away. On the other hand, I still listen more often than I’d care to admit. And every once in a while Glass & Co. still hit one way, way out into the left-field stands. Glass is the editor of a new anthology, “The New Kings of Nonfiction,” and he clearly has an eye for picking journalistic narratives. Among the pieces included here are “Host,” by David Foster Wallace, “Six Degress of Lois Weisberg,” by Malcolm Gladwell and a portion of “Among the Thugs,” by Bill Buford. It’s a winning book."